Several months ago, I woke up with an arresting sense of pain in my stomach. As a young working professional who was new to the workforce, I attempted to go to work that day, thinking that I could simply work through the challenge. But later that day, I couldn’t focus on the tasks in front of me and needed to leave work early.
While I was trying to turn to God for help and was praying with a Christian Science practitioner, it seemed as though the pain I was experiencing grew worse as the day progressed. By nighttime, I couldn’t bend or move. I was in doubt of my capability to rely on my own spiritual understanding to heal me, and kept comparing my ability to heal spiritually with those of the pioneer Christian Scientists from Mary Baker Eddy’s day.
Before going to bed, I picked up an issue of the Journal and began reading some of the articles that I found pertinent to my situation. I came across one written by a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors. I pondered the spiritual ideas that were shared, and held on in my heart to the inspiration that I received from this article. Soon after reading it, I set the Journal aside, and fell asleep for the night.
Not long after falling asleep, I woke up suddenly, feeling full of gratitude for the Board of Directors. It was as if in the middle of my human repose, my spiritual consciousness had become receptive to, and begun entertaining, an angel message filled to the brim with the utmost appreciation for the Board’s strong demonstration of divine Science in the way that Mrs. Eddy taught and understood.
After I recognized and grasped this spiritual message, I fell back asleep. I awoke the next morning to find complete and total freedom from any sense of pain.
In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels are God’s representatives. These upward-soaring beings never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine Principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image, or likeness of God, gathers” (p. 299).
My experience that night had been as Mrs. Eddy described. I had previously doubted my ability to rely on my own prayers for healing—the discouragement I felt exemplifying the “sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes.” But an angel message came to me, giving me strength and courage, which took the form of my recognizing the spiritual might exemplified by the Board of Directors.
My realization of their demonstration of Truth came to me, I feel, through a representative of God, a spiritual thought that pointed upward “to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” It was leading me away from self and materiality, guiding me to “the divine Principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image, or likeness of God, gathers.”
It was my gratitude for the spiritual strength that the Board members embody—through their demonstration of Christian Science—that appeared in my thought and made all the difference. My gratitude for their exemplification of the Christ made me realize its healing power is still here, and this enabled me to find release from the pain I had been feeling.
When I woke up the next morning, I was no longer comparing my healing efforts to those of the early workers—the “pioneers” of Christian Science—and was no longer doubting my ability to heal. I had proven that I had enough understanding of Christian Science to meet my need.
Bellevue, Washington, US
